Residents on Thursday fled a running battle between gang members and police in one of the few neighborhoods of Haiti’s capital that had not already been fully taken over by gangs as violence flared amid political turmoil.
Families packed mattresses and furniture into cars and carried their belongings on their heads as they left the Solino neighborhood, one of a handful of areas in Port-au-Prince where a coalition of gangs, called Viv Ansanm, and police were locked in a violent firefight over the past several days.
“We barely made it out,” said 52-year-old Jean-Jean Pierre, who was carrying his son in his arms as he fled the neighborhood with throngs of people. “I’ve lived here 40 years of my life and I’ve never seen it this bad.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Violence has exploded in the capital since Sunday, when Haiti’s transitional council — created to restore democratic order — fired the interim prime minister amid political infighting.
The Caribbean nation has not held an election since 2016, largely because of the gang violence.
Since Sunday more than 4,300 people have fled their homes in Port-au-Prince and neighboring towns, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the UN in New York on Thursday,
Gangs such as the Viv Ansanm coalition often seize on moments of political chaos to make power grabs like the one in Solino in the past few days.
Gangs also largely shut down the country’s main airport by shooting planes, wounding one flight attendant on Monday.
The UN said that it documented 20 armed clashes in Port-au-Prince in just one day.
The UN estimates that gangs control 85 percent of the city.
A UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police sent to subdue the gangs has been unable to quell the violence.
Pierre said that he had not seen any presence of the UN-backed mission in his neighborhood, and that he and his family did not know where they would go.
Other residents said gang members had forced them from their homes and burned their belongings.
“These gangs are more powerful than the police,” Pierre said.
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